New focus is planned for Dekaney High
Spring ISD set to transition campus into ‘learning communities’ based on themes
Andy Dekaney High School hasn’t lived up to its namesake.
The high school, which opened in 2007, was named after a former Spring Independent School District board member who served six years as president, three years as vice president and two years as secretary of the board in addition to his work on the district’s education foundation.
But now, eight years since it matriculated its first group of students, the school has struggled to maintain high academic standards. Dekaney High School has received the lowest academic accountability rating by the Texas Education Agency known as “improvement required,” previously called “academically unacceptable,” three times — 2008, 2011 and 2013 — since it opened.
But Spring ISD is looking to turn around the underperforming high school.
Dekaney High School will no longer be a single school serving an estimated 2,600 students. The district has plans to create “small learning commu-
nities” based on student interests and themes, such as arts, health, science, etc.
The idea is that upon entering the high school, students will select their education and career tracks that will fit within one of six learning communities.
“We have a vision that Dekaney will be one of the top schools in Texas, and we’re meeting that with the small learning communities so we can attain the vision that was set when the school was open,” said Josie Gutierrez-Hernandez, chief schools officer at Spring ISD.
All Spring ISD students currently take a career inventory before entering high school. The questionnaire identifies students’ interests, career pathways and programs of study. With the new face of Dekaney, officials say that the district will be able to meet the needs of its students.
“It gives us a chance to become very specific about the type of support because we won’t be dealing with the masses,” said Isaac Carrier, assistant superintendent of administration for high schools. “What I expect to see is those reasons that have led to underperformance, I think we’re going to see that change because it’s not just a focus on instruction. It’s a focus on the school as a whole.”
Spring ISD is working to create a conversion advisory board comprising students, educators and community members by September.
The 12-person conversion advisory board is expected to meet four to six times to fully develop the vision and future of Dekaney High School as a group of small learning communities. The plan that comes out of committee will be instituted by the 2016-17 school year.
“To really go back to the drawing board and reimagine what that campus can be is something that’s great. You don’t get to do that in many cases,” Carrier said. “This gives us an opportunity to really hone in on what our kids need.”
The advisory board will be responsible for defining the small learning communities, prioritizing the vision, making sure the staffing and master schedules are lined up and, ultimately, being the voice of the community.
The district plans to meet with the Institute for Student Achievement in July to get a framework for putting together the advisory board.
Spring ISD doesn’t anticipate any structural changes to the high school. The school’s floorplan already creates separate corridors that will serve as independent communities.
The idea for creating individual communities was approved by the board of trustees in April during its monthly meeting. The decisions of the conversion advisory board aren’t expected to be presented to trustees for final approval, Gutierrez said.
In an effort to promote a culture of high achievement, the district is using the small learning communities to reduce the student-to-teacher and student-to-adviser ratio. Each community is expected to serve up to 450 students and will have its own set of advisers, counseling staff, teachers and administrators.
“A small learning community provides the opportunity for students to loop with their teachers. There’s a sense of continuity. It lends itself to forming relationships and building personalization in that learning community,” said Pamela Farinas, Dekaney High School principal.
By reducing the number of total students for each teacher and adviser, the idea is that students will become more than just a number. They’ll be kids who can receive the attention they need to succeed.
That success can turn a page for the school, which has had a troubled past.
The school was placed on the TEA’s list of underperforming schools for the 2015-16 school year because half or more of the student population did not pass the state’s standardized STAAR exam’s reading portion in 2014. In 2013, the school similarly suffered in the writing portion of the STAAR exam and also received the Texas agency’s lowest academic accountability rating of “improvement required” for its third time since opening in 2007.
The change at Dekaney High School also comes at a time when the district has struggled with student advising.
Earlier this year, nearly 600 Spring ISD seniors slated to graduate were at risk of not making it across the stage due to mass scheduling errors. The district scrambled to make sure students met state graduation requirements. An internal investigation showed some students were receiving credit for classes they didn’t take or that students were repeating the same classes despite passing. The systemic scheduling problems affected more than onethird of the district’s anticipated graduating class for all three of its high schools.